NOTE: I want it known that any Miraculous stories I write and publish (because there will be more) were all my younger sister's fault. She watches the show every day and I couldn't help but think of some good story ideas. I will put this author's note in every Miraculous story I post, so if it sounds familiar, then you probably read another one of my fanfics.

Disclaimer: I do not own this show nor anything else except for my stories.

*This story takes place during the episode, Chameleon, season 3, episode 1*

"There's nothing you can do about it anyway. People can't resist when they hear what they like to hear. If you don't want to be my friend, fine. But soon you won't have any friends left at all and trust me, I'll make sure you never get close to Adrien in class or anywhere. You seem a little less dumb than the others so I'll give you one last chance. You're either with me or against me. You don't have to answer right away. I'll give you till the end of class today," Lila stated before she stormed out of the girls' bathroom.

Marinette huffed and ran into one of the stalls, and Tikki took the opportunity to zip out her holder's purse to try and comfort the blue-haired girl. "I thought Chloe was evil, but Lila really takes the whole cake. She's like a supervillain who doesn't even need a costume."

"You mustn't let her get to you, Marinette!" Tikki exclaimed, worried that she'd have to deal with an akumatized Marinette. And without Ladybug's miraculous powers, Cat Noir wouldn't be able to purify the Akuma.

"If I don't manage to expose her lies, she'll ruin my life, Tikki. She'll turn my friends against me, including Adrien!" Marinette punched the wall out of frustration, unaware of the dark Akuma that Hawkmoth had sent her way. At least, until she heard Tikki try to warn her. "An Akuma!"

Now, while Lila and Marinette had been talking, Chloe had snuck over to the door that led to the girls' bathroom. She'd seen what had happened in the cafeteria and wanted to see if she could get any dirt on Lila. The blonde knew the new student was bad news, even worse than the baker's daughter. So she'd gotten her phone out and pressed record.

Chloe had tried to look casual when Lila walked out of the bathroom and was about to go find Sabrina when she heard Marinette talk to herself. Normally, Chloe wouldn't have cared whatsoever about what the blue-haired girl was talking about. But then she heard the word 'Akuma'.

"Oh no, you don't! Marinette Dupain-Cheng, don't even think about being akumatized, not on my watch!" Chloe exclaimed as she barged into the bathroom and walked over to the stalls. She saw the Akuma fluttering above the door, but what the mayor's daughter didn't see was Tikki flying back into Marinette's purse. "Do you know what Ladybug would think if I let that happen? Nuh-uh, no way. It's too ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. I know Lila is terrible, but with my help, we can take care of her. So get over yourself and come out already."

'Is this really Chloe?' Marinette thought to herself, her previous anger all but forgotten. Poor Hawkmoth pouted as he realized that Marinette wasn't about to be akumatized any time soon. She opened the stall door to see an annoyed Chloe, tapping her foot with her arms crossed. "Um, thanks, Chloe. For keeping me from being akumatized and all."

"Look, I didn't do it for you. But can you imagine how Ladybug would have reacted if I, Queen Bee, let a civilian get akumatized right in front of me?" Chloe asked, ignoring the way Marinette rolled her eyes.

"What did you mean when you said we could take care of her?"

Chloe sighed and showed her phone to Marinette. "I recorded that whole conversation of yours. For Adrikins sake, I'll cut out his name."

"But won't they just accuse us of editing it? I mean, we need some proof from other people," Marinette wasn't sure if she really wanted to work with Chloe...but it was either deal with the lesser of two evils, or sit alone in the back of the class as Lila ruined her life.

"Didn't you design Jagged Stone's album or something like that?" Chloe hated to admit that the album case wasn't half bad. Which is why she'd never tell anyone, not even Sabrina, how talented she thought Marinette was. "If you could get in touch with him, maybe he'd tell us if he ever had a cat. Honestly, cats are such a bore."

"Yeah, I still have his number. And maybe you could get your dad to talk to Prince Ali. He is the mayor of Paris and all," Marinette hated to feed Chloe's ego, but she'd rather the blonde have a big head than let Lila get her way. "And I can try to get Madame Bustier to talk to Mr. Damocles about all of her absences."

"Well, then what are you waiting for? Let's get to it," Chloe snapped. But unfortunately, the girls' plan would have to be put on hold thanks to (ironically) Lila who chose that moment to become akumatized.

Marinette groaned as she saw Lila surrounded by her classmates, probably telling more of her lies. She stomped down the stairs, ready to give her a piece of her mind when Adrien stopped her.

"Are you going to tell everyone?"

"'Course I am! Lila is a-" Marinette found herself a little confused when Adrien, one of the most polite people she knew, cut her off. She was even more surprised at what he said.

"A liar. Yes, I know. But do you really think exposing her will make things better? If you humiliate her, she'll just be hurt more. Making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy.

"So we just stand by and let her lie?"

"As long as you and I both know the truth, does it really matter?"

"You're right, maybe it's not such a big deal," Marinette spotted Chloe as the blonde made her way to Marinette and Adrien and quickly thought of a way to get Adrien on board. "Except, you know, she did impersonate you and insulted your friends, tried to force a kiss on Ladybug, and almost got me akumatized-"

"Wait what? When was this?!" Adrien exclaimed worriedly. Marinette had to be one of the kindest girls he'd ever met, always willing to give a lending hand. She almost always had a smile on her face, and the thought of having to fight her as Cat Noir made chills go down the model's spine. He didn't like the thought of Ladybug nearly kissing someone against her will either, but Marinette was the one in need of immediate attention. Ladybug could wait. Which is something Adrien never thought he'd say/think. "Are you okay?"

Before Marinette could respond, Chloe walked over to them and put an arm around Adrien's shoulders, oblivious to her childhood friend's discomfort. "Adrikins, you need to pay better attention. Earlier, Lila was trying to turn everyone against Marinette here and even you fell for it. And we have proof. With or without your approval, we're going to tell the class who she really is."

Adrien fell silent, a little put off by Chloe's behavior. But if Lila had gotten so bad that poor Marinette had almost fallen victim to an Akuma, he had to admit that maybe letting Lila off the hook wasn't the best solution like he'd thought. "Against my better judgment, I have to ask what the two of you are going to do."

"Listen to our evidence and then we can all go from there. Is that alright, Chloe?" Marinette asked as she pulled out her phone to look for the edited recording Chloe had sent her. It cut out both Adrien's name and the part where Lila talked about sitting next to the blond boy.

"Fine...only because I can't stand the thought of you hating me for something like this without knowing why, Adrikins. Not for you, Dupain-Cheng," Chloe stated, and with a flip of her hair, she was gone.

"Are you really okay though?" Adrien placed a comforting hand on Marinette's shoulder, with concern written across his face. Marinette smiled softly and nodded.

"I am now. Surprisingly, Chloe was the one who stopped me from giving in to the Akuma. It was weird, but touching. Kind of," Marinette was a little shocked that she was able to have an actual conversation with Adrien with no stuttering whatsoever. It was a lot easier now that the two of them had become closer and better friends. "I know you had a point, but I just...I don't want our friends to be lied to."

"Or being put in the back of the classroom like you," Adrien said sympathetically. Marinette flushed and smiled nervously. "I should've done more than offer you my seat."

The bell interrupted their conversation, causing both of the teens to head back to Madame Bustier's classroom. Marinette made sure to talk to her teacher about Lila and Principal Damocles before she headed up to her seat. But instead of Adrien sitting next to Lila, he walked up to the stairs and sat next to Marinette.

"Hey, it's pretty cool up here," Adrien whispered. Marinette nodded in agreement then carefully got out her phone so she could send a quick text to Jagged Stone (she would never get over how cool it was to have one of her favorite musicians' phone numbers.)

Marinette: 'Hi, this is Marinette. I had a question about something one of my classmates, Lila Rossi, said. I know you have Fang now, but I was curious to know when you owned a cat.'

Jagged: 'Hello, my favorite little star. I've never owned a cat since they aren't nearly rock n roll enough for me. Fang is all I need. By the way, I have a proposition I'd like to talk to you next time I'm in town.

When she was certain Madame Bustier wasn't looking, Marinette nudged Adrien's shoulder so he could see the text she'd gotten from Jagged. And hours later, Tikki and Marinette would squeal and talk for hours about how well Marinette had gotten along with Adrien, no stuttering or nervous laughs whatsoever.

"It's a shame. The whole class put so much effort in helping her because of her tinnitus," Adrien shook his head slightly as he looked down at his best friend, Nino, sitting beside Alya, both of whom looked happy despite Marinette's absence. And Adrien's. The only people who seemed to notice that Adrien had left his "assigned" seat were Lila and Chloe, though Chloe wasn't nearly as upset as he'd thought she'd be. "How much do you want to bet her arthritis is made up too?"

Before Marinette could respond, the two teens were cut off by Madame Bustier's loud announcement to turn to page fifty-two of their textbooks. Marinette glanced around and whispered quietly enough so only Adrien could hear. "We can talk more about this later."

"I can't believe it, Tikki! I'm finally going to expose Lila's terrible lies and Adrien's actually on my side!" Marinette squealed in excitement as she walked towards her school. It was weird to not have Alya by Marinette's side, but that only added onto her determination to get her friends to realize the truth about their classmates. "We even managed to have a conversation on the phone with next to no stuttering!"

"Congratulations, Marinette. But don't forget that Chloe helped too," Tikki reminded her holder. Marinette nodded thoughtfully. It had been strange to text Chloe after school to go over their plan, seeing as how neither of the girls got along whatsoever. Though Marinette was positive that once their common enemy was taken down, they'd go back to hating each other. As was Tikki. "Maybe she really is nicer than we thought?"

Both Marinette and Tikki looked at one another before they burst out laughing. Sure, Chloe was a person and she had feelings just like every other citizen for Paris. But everyone knew that Chloe always had her own reasons for doing things, mostly reasons that had to do with Adrien Agreste.

Marinette quit laughing once she noticed all of the curious (and worried) stares she was receiving since no one could see who exactly she was laughing with. Once they'd reached the school, Marinette headed straight to her classroom. For the purpose of the plan, she'd purposely gotten there early so she could meet up with Chloe and Adrien, along with Madame Bustier.

As she made her way up the stairs, however, Marinette was stopped by none other than Lila herself. The brunette placed a hand on Marinette's shoulder to stop her and leaned in to whisper in the blue-haired teen's ear. "Based on what I saw in class yesterday with Adrien sitting next to you, I see you've made your decision Marinette. From now on, you and I are at war. You will lose your friends and wind up all alone and Adrien will soon be mine."

"We'll see about that, Lila. We'll see," Marinette responded as she removed Lila's hand and continued her trip up the staircase.

When everyone else had arrived, they were surprised to see that Marinette was there before all of them, as well as Adrien, and Chloe. But instead of sitting in their seats, they were all gathered around their teacher's desk.

"Hey, dude, what's going on?" Nino asked. Adrien just smiled and mouthed the words 'trust me'. When Alya asked, she received the exact same response from Marinette.

Once the bell had rung, Madame Bustier turned on the projector right as Mr. Damocles had entered the room. "Before we begin today's lesson, Mr. Damocles and I would like it if you turn your attention to the board. Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe have a message directed towards all of you, so please sit and listen. All questions will be answered at the end. Chloe?"

"Thank you, Madame. So as we all know, the new seating arrangement was made to accommodate dear Lila here, with her Tinnitus. Remind me what ear has the problems, Lila?" Chloe smirked when Lila remained silent and just pointed at her right ear. "Funny, I thought it was the left. Anyway, most of you guys probably know that Marinette here designed a cover for one of Jagged Stone's albums. Isn't that right, Dupain-Cheng?"

"Yes, it is. During that time, I actually got Jagged's phone number. So I thought I'd ask him about his cat, and how he went from having a cat to having Fang," Marinette stated as she picked up a small control and the screenshot of her and Jagged's texts popped up on the board.

The teens began to whisper amongst themselves, though that ceased when Lila stood up and pointed at Marinette accusingly. "She has been against me since day one, and I have done nothing to deserve her hatred!"

"Marinette doesn't hate anybody," Alya retorted, and Marinette let out a quiet sigh of relief. It made her happy to hear that her best friend was...well, still her best friend.

"Anyway," Adrien interrupted. He hated when people fought, and while he knew that was a likely outcome, he'd prefer his friends to know the truth before they started arguing. "That means that we all changed seats for nothing and made poor Marinette sit in the back, ALONE, for no reason. Even so, no one thought to ask her how she felt about it, not even her best friends. I should've stood up for her, but I didn't."

"Not that we can blame you, Adrikins," Chloe added. "All of you were under Lila's spell, and wouldn't listen to reason without proof. Speaking of proof, my daddy contacted Prince Ali to see how well he knows little miss Liar- I mean, Lila."

Marinette clicked the button again to play a video clip of Prince Ali sitting in what looked like an office.

"Hello, Prince Ali here. While I've had the pleasure of meeting Lila's father, Mr. Rossi whenever he's in Achu on business for my father, I have yet to meet his daughter, Lila. She and her mother live in Paris, as far as I'm aware. Oh, and hello, Rose!"

Rose waved until Juleka reminded her that it was just a video and Ali couldn't actually see the blonde, who pouted when the video was over. "I thought Lila said she was good friends with him."

"She said that Jagged had a cat before Fang, but he didn't. What else have you been lying about?" Alix asked, glaring daggers at Lila.

"That isn't all," Chloe gestured for Marinette to press a button on the small clicker, and the latter of the two happily obliged. Nothing was displayed on the board, but the conversation that had gone down between Marinette and Lila played loudly enough for everyone to hear. Once it was over, and the students had quit gasping, Chloe spoke again. "If it hadn't been for me calming Marinette here down, she would've been akumatized."

"Not Marinette!" Mylène cried. She sat up and ran over to the baker's daughter to give her a hug. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, Mylène. I'm okay now," Marinette patted her shorter friend's back reassuringly. When she glanced up, Marinette was caught off guard to see everyone in her class look at her with such guilty looks on their faces. "I really am. Thanks to Chloe."

"Girl, you've been so lucky to avoid being akumatized. If you had been because of us…"Alya trailed off, and Marinette just knew that it would take some time until Alya forgave herself.

"And I should have realized that what happened in the cafeteria wouldn't have caused me serious harm. For that, I apologize," Max pushed his glasses up his nose, a frown on his face. He and Marinette had really bonded when they were in that gaming competition and to think he'd nearly gotten her akumatized made him feel terrible.

It made everyone (except Lila) feel terrible really and classmate after classmate apologized to their dear friend, or as Adrien had once said, their everyday Ladybug. It was all so overwhelming that it took everything Marinette had to keep herself from crying.

"While I appreciate the sentiment, I'd like you all to be quiet for now. Thank you, Chloe, Adrien, and Marinette. You may take a seat now," Mr. Damocles stated calmly. The three students went back to their seats, Chloe next to Sabrina and both Adrien and Marinette in the back like they had been the day before. "I've been trying to contact your parents, Lila, about your absences. Thanks to Madame Bustier's suggestion, I went and paid her a little visit earlier. It's funny; I had no idea the school had been closed because of Akuma attacks for the past few months. You are in big trouble, young lady."

"Lila, gather your belongings please," Madame Bustier commanded. "Class, if there is a lesson to be learned here, is that lying does nothing. And that maybe you should have listened to your friends. I should have listened as well, and for that, I am sorry Marinette."

"We all are, Marinette. Madame Bustier, can we go back to our regular seats?" Alya asked. When their teacher nodded her head, the students practically flew out of their chairs to sit in their usual seats. Marinette hugged her dark-haired friend tightly and laughed as Nino practically crushed Adrien.

Lila huffed as she got her stuff and walked over to a visibly displeased principal. Marinette, however, wasn't done with her just yet. "Wait, Lila. I want to know what made you do all of this. Why did you have to lie? Why couldn't you be yourself?"

"Because people only like what they want to hear," Lila was eerily calm, and both of our superheroes had a feeling they'd have to fight an akumatized Lila for what felt like the millionth time. "And don't forget what I told you; as of now, we're at war."

Mr. Damocles shook his head and walked out of the classroom with Lila. When they were gone, Madame Bustier let out a sigh of relief. As if akumas weren't bad enough, drama with a new girl was too much for the poor teacher to handle.

After that incident, kids were a lot nicer to Marinette. Except for Chloe, but everyone had known that the temporary alliance between her and the baker's daughter would crumble the second their shared enemy was gone.

The one thing Marinette had not been expecting was the sudden closeness between her and Adrien. It was weird, but their friendship felt...familiar. It was like they'd known each other their whole lives.

Alya picked up on it almost immediately and was really proud that her shy, clumsy friend could have full-blown conversations with the model with minimal stuttering. As was Tikki.

While Tikki may not have liked the idea of revenge, she had to admit that Lila had seemed like the kind of person who would encourage akumas. If the kwami didn't know better, she would've thought that Lila had gone out of her way to be akumatized by Hawkmoth.

If only she, and everyone in Marinette's class, knew the truth about Lila Rossi. Oh well. Sometimes people had to find out the hard way. But secrets always got out. And while Lila could and would try, she never had the same power over people again after Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe had exposed her. After all, no likes a liar.

AN: Okay, so this episode annoyed me to no end. I mean, I know I shouldn't be this involved in a kids' TV show, but really, poor Marinette's friends should've known her well enough to see past Lila's lies. Then again, they're all oblivious to her and Adrien's superhero alter egos. So I decided to fix the ending. Sorry if Chloe seemed a little OC but I despise Lila more than Chloe. I really do hope you enjoyed.

- Kitkat Out!